Status Quo Bias Research Articles

Keeping Things as They Are: How Status Quo Biases and Traditions along with a Lack of Information Transparency in the Building Industry Slow Down the Adoption of Innovative Sustainable Technologies

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of this century. To contain its effects, the way we act would have to change significantly. Especially in the building sector, much progress can be made. Attempts have been made to stimulate sustainable behavior in the industry, for example, by implementing sustainable building measures in construction designs. However, adoption rates of these measures are low and behavioral change among building professionals is needed. Knowing why building professionals hold back in their use of these measures could support this behavioral change. This knowledge could, for example, inform energy policies or organizational strategies. That is why this study utilized the technology acceptance model and presents psychological factors as barriers to innovative sustainable building measure adoption in an organizational context. A survey among building professionals involved in real estate development (n = 109) was used to explore how conservatism within the building industry hinders adopting the building measures. To represent conservatism, we selected two cognitive biases that can be interpreted as a manifestation of status quo bias and confirmation bias, both fueled by information hassle (a micro-stressor caused by complex information). The effects of these variables on the adoption of sustainable building measures were tested using structural equation modeling, a methodology suitable for testing complex models and commonly used in behavioral research. Survey data indicate that conservatism is an essential barrier for building professionals to adopt sustainable building measures and that it increases when knowledge is low and information is complex. Based on these findings, we argue that policies and organizational strategies that attack these psychological barriers could promote the adoption of innovative sustainable building measures within the building sector.

Probing Status Quo Bias in Dentistry

The status quo bias in dentistry refers to a practitioner's preference for certain treatment modalities and resistance to contemplating the need for a change. Lack of updating skills and amending their work routine accordingly can result in them providing treatment that is dated or even totally obsolete. It could even be detrimental to their patient's oral health and open them up to the risk of litigation. The concept of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) was introduced to try enforce clinicians to improve their knowledge and skills, and keep abreast of current best practice recommendations. However, it should not be seen as a mere points collecting exercise that has little effect on bringing about changes in their work. Dentists need to continually review their work, and make adjustments when necessary in order to do better and be better. Only then canthey claim to be acting in their patients’ best interest and fulfilling their duty of beneficence.

Nudging COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake by Changing the Default: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Although vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 is considered the central strategy against the pandemic, uptake lags behind target rates. To explore whether this rate could be enhanced by a nudging strategy that exploits the status quo bias, we conducted a randomized controlled trial in northern Italy comparing vaccination acceptance among 2000 adults, ages 50 to 59 years, who were either invited to set an appointment (opt-in group) or assigned an individual appointment (opt-out group). Results indicate a difference of 3.2 percentage points, which represents a 32% relative increase in the vaccination rate for the opt-out group compared with the opt-in group. A significant portion of those who remain unvaccinated may not hold strong beliefs against vaccination but rather tend to inaction and may therefore be nudged toward vaccination with a reduction of action required. Reluctant adults (50-59 years), who had not yet received vaccines against COVID-19, were sent letters announcing appointment availabilityIn an RCT, the status quo option in the notices influenced the rate of vaccine acceptanceNudging via pre-scheduled appointments encouraged vaccine uptake more than invitations to schedule didSwitching the default option yielded a 32% relative increase (13.1% vs. 9.9%) in vaccination.

Exploring behavioral barriers and interventions in retirement savings: Findings from online focus groups among university students

In a number of countries around the world, population ageing raises concerns about the sustainability of pension systems. A younger generation has conventionally been least likely to save for retirement even if there is a need to take individual responsibility and start saving for their retirement as soon as possible. In this context, the aim of the paper is to identify behavioral barriers and interventions towards retirement savings ceiling to this part of the productive population. For this purpose, three online focus groups were deployed among 16 university students aged 23-24 years. Using the coding process, common categories, related codes and frequencies of responses were determined from the transcribed material. The results pointed at two crucial barriers related to retirement savings: behavioral (present bias, status quo bias, loss aversion, limited attention) and institutional (education, pension policy and trustworthiness of the state institutions). Additionally, three main categories of behavioral interventions were detected to overcome these barriers: simplification of decision-making (easy calculation of pension, default options), use of salience effects (information campaigns, visualization tools, personalized content) and minimizing feelings of loss (framing of messages, financial incentives, products with different types of liquidity). Based on findings, recommendations were formulated for three groups of stakeholders: government, industry (financial providers and pension funds) and employers. The results bring valuable insights to relevant stakeholders regarding behaviors and attitudes of the young generation on retirement savings issues. AcknowledgmentsThis contribution was written with the support of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, project number TL03000737 titled as “Behavioral economics as a population activation targeted tool within use of financial security banking products.”

The Effect of Using Artificial Intelligence on Learning Performance in Iraq: The Dual Factor Theory Perspective

The adoption of artificial intelligence applications in higher education plays an important role in the improvement of the quality of education and learning practices and overcomes many educational' issues. The purpose of this study is to examine the factors influencing learning performance by using artificial intelligence in the educational process. The research model has been developed based on dual factor concept through examining “enablers” and “inhibitors” factors of artificial intelligence adoption in higher education toward improving the Learning Performance. The research model has been built based on a combination of the following theories, constructivism, TAM3, UTAUT, BM, status quo bias theory. The hypothesized model is validated empirically via a questionnaire including 57-item based on 5-point Likert scales completed by 383 respondents (random sampled). Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the proposed model by analyzing the confirmatory factor and path effects across the AMOS software. The results demonstrate that the indicators of model fitness showed good fit. As for the results of the hypothesis test, it is clear that the results of the analysis show that the interaction and the engagement of learning have a significant effect on the collaboration for learning and thus have a significant effect on the learning performance. Perceived enjoyment, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use have a significant effect on using artificial intelligence. Facilitating conditions have no significant impact on using artificial intelligence. Consciousness has a positive effect on use while perceived risks and resistance do not significantly affect use and learning performance. The use of artificial intelligence has a positive and significant effect on learning performance.

Recommendations with Feedback

Abstract We investigate the strategic role of a recommender who cares about accuracy and whose recommendations influence product quality. In the presence of such feedback effects, recommendations have a self-fulling property: the recommendation agent can select any firm that will end up being the firm with the best quality. This produces important inefficiencies that include (a) a lack of incentive to acquire valuable information, (b) a status quo bias, and (c) the avoidance of risky innovations. Monetary payments from firms may work in mitigating these inefficiencies, while competition between recommenders and monetary payments from consumers are ineffective.

Consumer matching costs to context: Status quo bias, temporal framing, and household energy decisions

AbstractOne challenge of promoting energy‐efficient behavior change is status quo bias: consumers are reluctant to change away from their current level of energy usage, even if their energy usage is higher than they would actively choose. Using experimental data, this article examines what temporal frame minimizes status quo bias and encourages energy‐efficient behavioral intentions. The authors find that individuals make the most energy efficient decisions when presented with a monthly framing because they are more easily able to think about monthly costs than daily or yearly costs. The authors investigate whether cognitive fluency could be an underlying mechanism, and find evidence that individuals are most fluent when energy costs are framed on a monthly basis.

Bias Status Quo dan Pencatatan Akuntansi : Studi Exploratif

This study aims to analyze the status quo bias as the reason MSME owners do not make accounting records. Exploratory Study was used in this study and data were obtained through interviews with five MSME owners in Salatiga City who are engaged in grocery and culinary businesses and they do not make accounting records. The results of the study indicates that there is a tendency for MSME owners to experience a status quo bias so that they do not make accounting records. This is because they feel comfortable, ignore the opportunity for accounting profits, stop at their desire and they feel worried about the risks that will be faced if they make accounting recods. Another finding is that the status quo bias is not permanent or dynamic,, so that if MSME owners are given certain treatment, they are likely to be willing to make accounting records

Pathways to socialisation: China, Russia, and competitive norm socialisation in a changing global order

AbstractThis article problematises the status quo bias in IR socialisation research, and develops an alternative concept of competitive socialisation, through which subaltern actors internalise dominant norms, enhance their competitive edge, and enact more equalised power relations in global politics. The dominant strand of IR socialisation research mostly conceives of socialisation as a status-quo-oriented practice that reinforces the existing power hierarchy, such as teacher-student relationship. This has resulted in a one-sided theory neglecting the importance of proactive and self-directed socialisation efforts embarked upon by subaltern actors themselves. Based on an alternative sociological approach that defines socialisation as a practice of self-enhancement, this article develops the concept of competitive socialisation and articulates alternative pathways to the internalisation of dominant norms. It applies this framework to the cases of Chinese socialisation into the peacekeeping community, and Russia's socialisation into the multilateral development community. These case studies demonstrate that the holistic internalisation of dominant Western norms has enabled Beijing and Moscow to challenge the existing global power hierarchy. This, in turn, resulted in fundamental changes in their behaviours from initial norm rejection, to passive acceptance, and finally to active learning and norm internalisation.

The generation gap in direct democracy: Age vs. cohort effects

We document a generation gap in direct democracy outcomes across a wide range of topics that is causally related to aging. To this end, we combine different sources of postelection survey data covering more than 300 Swiss referenda and four decades. Young voters are more likely to support initiatives that favor their own generation in the present, e.g., a lower retirement age or increased unemployment benefits, or in favor of all generations in the future, e.g., environment protection. To estimate the causal effect of aging on political attitudes, we propose a novel unconstrained panel rank regression approach that separately identifies age and cohort effects. The aging effect on political attitudes is robust for controlling for arbitrary cohort effects and appears to be driven by expected utility maximization and not by habituation-induced status-quo bias.

PPM 모델을 적용한 항공사 이용 고객의 전환의도 연구: 현상유지편향 조절효과

Purpose - This study purposes to study the effects and factors on the airline customer''s conversion intention focusing on the PPM model and status quo bias. Research Design, data, and methodology -The selected customers with 2 years of airline experience before the COVID-19 pandemic were used for the survey through the online survey company, and 324 cases were used for the analysis among a total of 400 cases. The analysis had used SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 25.0 statistical analysis programs. Result -As a result of structural equation analysis, all three factors (Push, Mooring, Pull) were found to have a statistically significant effect on conversion intention, and the result of moderating effect by the status quo bias had verified to have a significant moderating effect between the Push and the conversion intention. Conclusions - irlines should develop a new service and products to prevent the customer’s convers ion to the other airlines, and do not have negative service quality and satisfaction reliability by customers. Also, airlines should consider the characteristics of customers’ behaviors and develop and pro mote various benefits for airline customers who travel with their friends, families, and colleagues.

Embracing the AACSB A5 Standard: Proposing Personality and Social Factors as Antecedents to Technology Resistance in Future Accountants

ABSTRACTA main objective of AACSB Standard A5 (AACSB 2018) is for accounting students to achieve information technology agility and greater adaptability in this age of rapid change to the profession. To this end, academic research identifies technological agility as a foundational skill required to educate accountants in data analytics. However, prior research indicates a resistance by accountants to adopt new technology. In light of increasing demands for accounting students to develop increased abilities and flexibility with technology and to adopt data analytics techniques, educators need a much better understanding of antecedents to technology resistance. This proposed study asks: Do personality characteristics and situational and organizational conditions influence the technological resistance of accounting students and faculty? Do these influences operate through the status quo bias (SQB) decision framework? Performing this suggested study may lead to insights and suggest educational interventions and curriculum guidance to meet that guidance.

Why change does (not) happen: Understanding and overcoming status quo biases in climate change mitigation

Why change does (not) happen: Understanding and overcoming status quo biases in climate change mitigation

“Let the music play” – experimental study on background music and time preference

ABSTRACT Music plays a significant role in human life. The literature suggests that background music can influence an individual’s decision-making process. Previous studies have shown that the tempo of music can affect people’s choices about whether to prefer the present or the future when buying goods. We focused on the influence of the tempo of music on monetary time preference which is the willingness to wait for receiving money in the present compared to receiving it in a later period. In the experiment we asked participants to complete a questionnaire that included time delay questions to measure time preferences while listening to background music. Those who listened to music with a fast tempo were more likely to favour the present than those who listened to slow music or none at all. We suggest that this difference arises from an increase in people’s cognitive load that leads to a status quo bias.

Political realism and the quest for political progress

Political realism and the quest for political progress

Greek Views of the 2015 Bailout Agreement: A Matter of Power Asymmetries or Socialisation?

ABSTRACT In July 2015, after intense negotiations with its creditors, Greece received a bailout in exchange for fiscal restraint. The coalition government at that time, led by the left-wing SYRIZA party, elected on the basis of an anti-austerity platform, eventually accepted the prevalent austerity frames of the creditors. Through the aid of Q-method, an analysis of Greek opinion leaders’ views of the negotiation highlights that this outcome can be explained in two different ways. The first posits that the ideological overtones that ruling SYRIZA injected in its negotiation strategy exhibited a lack of socialisation and undermined Greece’s already weak bargaining position. The second focuses on the institutional status quo bias in the Eurogroup in Germany’s favour, which discourages any change in the Eurozone. These two views may have partly been influenced by questions of political accountability.

Exploring the switching intention of patients to e-health consultations platforms: blending inertia with push–pull–mooring framework

PurposeTechnology has revolutionized the delivery of health-care services, with e-consultations becoming popular mode of service delivery, especially during the pandemic. Extant research has examined the adoption of e-health consultation services, with little attention paid to examine the switching behavior. This study aims to identify factors affecting patients’ intentions to switch from conventional mode i.e. visiting hospitals/clinics to e-health consultations.Design/methodology/approachTo understand this we use the push–pull–mooring (PPM) framework and integrate variables from status quo bias framework to the model. A cross-section research design was used, which rendered 413 valid responses which were obtained from the patients visiting a traditional hospital setup. The data was analyzed using partial least square – structural equation modeling using SmartPLS 3.0.FindingsFindings suggest that push effects (inconvenience and perceived risk), pull effects (opportunity for alternatives and ubiquitous care), mooring effects (trust) and inertia significantly influence patients’ switching intentions from visiting hospitals/clinics to e-health consultations. Further, habit and switching cost positively influence inertia.Practical implicationsThis study shall enable online health-care service providers and practitioners to understand patients’ intentions to switch to online health platforms and accordingly develop related marketing strategies, services and policies to encourage them to switch to the new offerings.Originality/valueThe current study enriches the previous research on e-health services by applying and extending PPM framework as the base model and showing its efficiency in predicting individuals switching intentions in the context of emerging economies. This study bridges the gap by focusing on switching behavior in context of health services.

Situating the Problematics of Judgment-Based Deselection: A Heuristics and Biases Approach

This paper presents an analysis of decision-making in the context of judgment-based (subjective) deselection using decision theory concepts developed by Daniel Kahneman in collaboration with others. Judgment-based deselection is considered from multiple perspectives using this approach. Situating the deselection context within loss aversion, status quo bias, and the endowment effect (products of prospect theory and behavioral economics) may explain the psychological reluctance accompanying deselection. The role of feedback as a condition for developing intuitive expertise demonstrates the limited potential for developing expertise in subjective deselection. Heuristics and biases employed in decision-making and decision fatigue may account for inconsistencies in deselection decisions.

Pandemic Ethics and Status Quo Risk

Abstract Conservative assumptions in medical ethics risk immense harms during a pandemic. Public health institutions and public discourse alike have repeatedly privileged inaction over aggressive medical interventions to address the pandemic, perversely increasing population-wide risks while claiming to be guided by ‘caution’. This puzzling disconnect between rhetoric and reality is suggestive of an underlying philosophical confusion. In this paper, I argue that we have been misled by status quo bias—exaggerating the moral significance of the risks inherent in medical interventions, while systematically neglecting the (objectively greater) risks inherent in the status quo prospect of an out-of-control pandemic. By coming to appreciate the possibility and significance of status quo risk, we will be better prepared to respond appropriately when the next pandemic strikes.

Do Negative Interest Rates Decrease the Status Quo Bias on Saving?

Do Negative Interest Rates Decrease the Status Quo Bias on Saving?